Chess Pieces
by Elfprinzess
Summary: "Check mate, Sherlock." Moriarty purred into the man's ear. Even over the wind, the man's words were easy to hear. The wind curved around Sherlock, sending an involuntary shiver down his spin from the cold of the rooftop. "I wouldn't say 'check mate' as such, not yet at least. I'd say 'check', if anything" Sherlock drawled.


**Here is just a random piece of work that I thought of while watching Sherlock.**

**I don't own Sherlock**

* * *

Some people were pawns. There to be directed in straight lines, one step at a time, and manipulated. They couldn't move backwards, was stopped and blocked if something appeared in their path, unable to get around it on their own. There to be gambled with and act as an unimportant barrier that is easily traded for another piece. There to be sacrificed to open up the board, or block the other person without a though to that pawn. Anderson, Donovan, the general public, all of them were pawns, there to be ordered and manipulated and placed and directed.

Castles were straight forward, but useful. Able to move forward, backwards, or side to side, they were handy in tight spots and capable of being useful, despite their limited movement. They could be sacrificed in a tight spot, but were too useful to consider the option unless there was no other outcome, no other way of winning. Not many wanted to sacrifice their castle, they weren't necessarily the most important piece, but they were valuable to the game. Mrs Hudson could be considered a castle: important, useful and helpful in tight spots, despite her appearance of being weak and helpless. Sherlock didn't want to sacrifice her for anything, but she wasn't vital to survival, or to win. It would be upsetting to have her gone, but he would not lose.

Bishops could only travel diagonally, meaning they could sneak between two pieces, get out of tight spots and easily stop another piece, yet they aren't particularly useful when the enemy is approaching head on. If there is a soldier directly in front of the bishop, the piece can only dodge to the side, leaving whatever is behind him open to the attack. Mycroft would make a good bishop, he excels at sneaking and dodging bullets, keeping himself out of trouble without a thought to those behind him.

Knights were probably the second most useful piece on the board, although only the third or fourth most important. They could jump over people and dodge things if they got in the way, and while they could only travel 3 spots at a time, they could turn corners and get right into the middle of the enemy, jumping their defences to take out a piece, before jumping back to safety. If you lost both knights in a game of chess, winning became a lot harder; still completely possible and relatively likely if you were Sherlock, but still slightly harder. Lestrade was like a knight. Handy, useful, important and loyal. Knights in the medieval days protected the weak, defended their honour and were loyal to their king to a fault. All that nonsense. In a way Lestrade was exactly like a knight, loyal to the King, protecting the people and jumping straight into the mess when possible, before jumping back out unharmed. Without Lestrade, the Work would be impossible, with no inside man to give Sherlock cases.

The King was the most important piece on the board. Without it, the game was over. With it, you were winning. The king is the brains behind a kingdom, giving orders and doing what was best for the people. You had good kings who always put the people first, bad kings who did what they wanted and didn't care who got hurt and then the kings in between, who helped the people by keeping the safe, but did so because the Work was interesting, not because they wanted to save their people. However, while the King is important, it is the second most useless piece on the board, with only the pawns below him. The King is always tied up with duties, guards and when he finally gets to move, it is only by one spot at a time. He is reliant on others to protect him and while he can do all the Work he wants, protecting the people for selfish reasons, he is pointless to the game, other than being the target, the goal, the prize.

It was the Queen that was most useful, despite the common misconception the piece was merely there as another protection for the King. The Queen is protected as well, only sent out when there is no other option left and the King needs protecting. The piece can move any direction, for any number of spots and is extremely handy in stopping attacks, ruining strategies and protecting the King. The piece was important, in a different way. Much like the knights, without her makes winning a lot harder, but with the knights winning was still very likely. Without the Queen, it makes it very difficult. The King relies on the Queen as protection, as a go-to for help and as a companion. Without the Queen, the King is vulnerable and weak. John is like the Queen in a chess game. He is loyal, often underestimated, most useful and important to the 'King'. Without John the game wouldn't just be hard to win. The game would be pointless. Boring.

* * *

"Check mate, Sherlock." Moriarty purred into the man's ear. Even over the wind, the man's words were easy to hear.

The wind curved around Sherlock, sending an involuntary shiver down his spin from the cold of the rooftop.

"I wouldn't say 'check mate' as such, not yet at least, I'd say check, if anything." Sherlock drawled, holding himself in the wind as if he was leaning on it like a bench, draping his limbs around his body gracefully.

"How so? I see no way for you to get out of this." Moriarty asked, as if he truly wanted to know. He began to stalk around Sherlock, circling his prey.

"You forgot to take out all of my pieces, if we're to continue this analogy of chess." Sherlock sighed, as if everything was boring him.

"Who'd I miss? I am keeping your detective is occupied, your landlady is unable to help in any way that is useful now, your brother is currently trying to get through the kilometre thick red tape I piled on him and any other pawn is too stupid to get up here and do anything. And I sent my own knight after yours." Moriarty explained, the grin stuck in place on his face.

"John isn't my knight. Lestrade is." Sherlock corrected.

"What's John then? The bishop?"

"No, if we really must continue using chess as a basis for the conversation, he is the queen." Sherlock grinned, just as Moriarty felt a gun pressed against his side. "Check mate."Sherlock smirked, just as John squeezed the trigger and killed the opponent, the enemy, the psychopath.

* * *

Sherlock stood side-by-side with his queen, as police came, took their statements and sorted out the crime scene. They were checked over by the ambulance workers, given shock blankets and some water and forced to sit to the side as the agents Mycroft sent sifted the crime scene for evidence.

"I'm the queen am I?" John finally spoke, watching the people work while sitting next to his friend.

"Obviously. The king is meant to represent the head of the kingdom, give the orders, make the decisions, all that stuff, but he is rather useless when it comes to actually taking out the enemy. He is capable enough to protect himself, by staying one step ahead, but when it comes down to it, he is quite useless. The queen is over underestimated, people assume the piece is handy when it comes to a 'check' and they need to protect the King, but they forget the usefulness of the piece when it comes to the entire board. You can move it any direction and is what I consider to be the most important, other than the King, because obviously, the King is necessary to continue playing and eventually win." Sherlock explained.

John grinned and nudged him with his shoulder, "That is probably the nicest thing you've ever said, I can't believe there were no insults in that spiel." John joked, grinning at Sherlock to show he meant no insult by his words.

"Well, I did say the King was more important than the Queen, when it comes down to the game." Sherlock sniffed, keeping a look of disdain on his face, even though he knew and John knew it was an act, a facade, done for a little bit of fun and protection.

"Good, I was beginning to worry you were actually suffering from shock there." John laughed. Once John began giggling, it turned into laughter and then he couldn't stop.

Lestrade turned up 10 minutes later, having taken care of Moriarty's men, and found the agents cleaning up, giving the pair in orange blankets weird looks and avoiding the pair of men who were leaning on each other, laughing their heads off.

"Alright you two, what's so funny now?"

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**End**


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